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Draft:Outline of planets

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to planets:

A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk. Planets grow in this disk by the gradual accumulation of material driven by gravity, a process called accretion.

What type of thing are planets?

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Planets can be described as all of the following:

Types of planets

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Planet

Other

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Planetary characteristics

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Planetary attributes

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  • Orbit
    • Heliocentric orbit – orbit around the barycenter of the Solar System, which is usually located within or very near the surface of the Sun. All planets, comets, and asteroids in the Solar System are in such orbits, as are many artificial probes and pieces of debris. The moons of planets in the Solar System, by contrast, are not in heliocentric orbits as they orbit their respective planet.
  • Planetary habitability – The measure of a planet's ability to sustain life.

Planetary features

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Specific planets

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Planets of the solar system

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  1. ☿ Mercury
  2. ♀ Venus
  3. ⊕ Earth
  4. ♂ Mars
  5. ♃ Jupiter
  6. ♄ Saturn
  7. ♅ Uranus
  8. ♆ Neptune

Exoplanets

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History of planets

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History of planet observation

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Geological history of planets

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Planetary science

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Planetary science – scientific study of planets

Planets in culture

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Conferences

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National space agencies

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Research institutions

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Planetary science journals

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Persons influential in planetary science

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See also

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References

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  • International Astronomical Union website
  • Photojournal NASA
  • NASA Planet Quest – Exoplanet Exploration
  • Illustration comparing the sizes of the planets with each other, the Sun, and other stars
  • "IAU Press Releases since 1999 "The status of Pluto: A Clarification"". Archived from the original on 2007-12-14.
  • "Regarding the criteria for planethood and proposed planetary classification schemes." article by Stern and Levinson
  • Planetary Science Research Discoveries (educational site with illustrated articles)